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Well, here’s an interesting one…the Black Racer, essentially
the God of Death in Jack Kirby’s Fourth World, and Shilo Norman, that lesser
Mister Miracle that was created for reasons known only to Jack himself. Perhaps
to have more Black New Gods? In any case, I can’t claim to be an expert on
either character, but that didn’t stop me from reviewing The Black Racer and Shilo Norman Oversize Special #1, and you can
read that review right now!

Explain
It!

Maybe it’s unpopular to say, but the Black Racer clearly
seems to be Jack Kirby’s attempt at creating a Silver Surfer for DC Comics.
They’re both heralds of death, they both travel really fast through space, and
the main thing separating them is that surfing is cool while skiing is just
white families experiencing gravity. Perhaps, then, the most interesting thing
about the Black Racer is that he’s black, anachronistic in skiing and in comic
books, and particularly in the role of a mysterious New God. Perhaps the lesson
here is that death is not likely to approach as a skeleton in an oversized
cloak, but something less expected: a silent black dude with ski poles.

Shilo Norman is a lesser-referenced character in
Kirby’s Fourth World. After all, there already is a Mister Miracle, one more
closely tied to New Genesis and Apokolips, and who comes with a very bad-ass
wife and former member of Darkseid’s Furies, Big Barda. But again, the main
difference between Scott Free and Shilo Norman is obvious as soon as the full
facemask is removed: one is white, the other black. You don’t see a lot of
black magicians or escape artists, and once that thought congeals it would be
disingenuous not to wonder exactly why. Two characters, neither what might be
expected by a mainstream Jack Kirby audience (if such a thing could be said to
exist), in one very interesting story.

And it is really interesting, dealing not primarily
in the blackness of both characters, but in the nature of escape, casting the
Black Racer as someone that can exert a modicum of free will. There is some
helpful origin information provided, and I’d say that as long as you know the
broad strokes of Jack Kirby’s DC Comics work, you probably could follow along
here pretty easily. I was really impressed by the yarn, so much so that I won’t
spoil it. For once this month, we might have a tribute to Jack Kirby that’s
worth the cover price.

That is if you like a bunch of back-ups from theForever
People, some Fourth World prequel stuff titled The Young Gods of Supertown. I think it’s all absolutely terrific
and it’s a nice exhibition of Jack Kirby’s work while at DC Comics. There’s
even a story featuring the Black Racer, tying into the actual comic book for
once! If that doesn’t sound useful, then see if you can get your local comics
purveyor to sell it to you for four bucks, because that Black Racer/Shilo
Norman story is pretty great.

Bits and
Pieces:

An unexpected but very welcome great story by Reginald Hudlin about two characters that I don't think would land on many people's list of Kirby favorites. If it were selling for a buck less, I'd probably give this a 9. You should consider checking this one out, even if you're only reasonably familiar with Jack Kirby's Fourth World.